The present application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/035,047, filed on Feb. 25, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,423,756, which is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/032,732, filed on Feb. 18, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,904,708, granted Mar. 8, 2011, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates generally to information handling systems, and more particularly to a remote management of Universal Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) basic input/output (BIOS) settings and configuration.
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option is an information handling system (IHS). An IHS generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements may vary between different applications, IHSs may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in IHSs allow for IHSs to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, IHSs may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
For purposes of this disclosure, Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) and Universal Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) are used interchangeably and called UEFI for simplicity. Today in Legacy BIOS as well as UEFI BIOS systems there is usually a setup option that allows a user of the IHS to change system configurations and/or BIOS settings. The types of things that can be changed include, but are not limited to, hard drive setup, USB controller setup, passwords, TPM settings, video settings, and/or a variety of other configurations and/or settings.
Typically when the IHS is turned on, a message is displayed that allows the user to press a specific keyboard input key to enter a BIOS setup. When this key is pressed within a set time period, the BIOS code will display a setup screen that can be used to change these settings. Entering setup may optionally be protected to change these settings. Once in Setup the user or authorized person can then change the settings and configure the system, associated peripherals, and etc.
This means that a person has to physically be present at the computer in order to change any of these settings. For Information Technology (IT) managed organizations where the computer systems are managed by an IT group, the requirement of having to physically be present at each physical computer to make BIOS configuration changes can represent a large labor effort. If an organization decides to implement a policy on specific computer BIOS settings, then it would require having an IT person physically go to each individual IHS to make those changes. As BIOS code and specifically as UEFI/EFI BIOS become more available, the technologies present in the BIOS code continue to get more complex and more functionality is being added to this environment. This will mean an increase in the number and types of BIOS Settings and Configuration that can and will be necessary in the future.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved remote management of UEFI BIOS settings and configuration system absent the deficiencies described above.